


Wired

by iolanthe_rosa



Category: Lord of the Rings RPF
Genre: M/M, Orlando Bloom - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-02
Updated: 2012-12-02
Packaged: 2017-11-20 01:24:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,449
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/579766
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iolanthe_rosa/pseuds/iolanthe_rosa
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Elijah finally gets a clue.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Wired

Elijah and Lauren had been on five dates. Elijah knew, because he had counted them. Tonight, Orlando had taken them to a club that was a little too loud even for Elijah’s ears of steel. He and Lauren had wandered outside for some fresh air and quiet. The cool, dark night was a relief after the heat and noise of the club. It was not raining, but a damp mist softened the sharp lines of the surrounding buildings. Elijah welcomed the chill that enveloped them.

Lauren looked around, hugging herself to keep warm. “It’s sort of mysterious out here, isn’t it?” she said, observing the muted grays and blacks that surrounded them.

The weather reminded Elijah of filming the Midgewater Marshes in the rain a few weeks back. That had been good fun, despite the cold and wet. He pondered the strange fact that there seemed to be a direct correlation between how uncomfortable things were for the hobbits and how much fun they had together. Or was that an inverse correlation? He could never remember which was which. Inverse or direct? Inverse. No, direct.

“Elijah? You in there?”

“Oh, yeah. Yeah.” Elijah leaned against the wall of the club. The brick was damp and he wondered if the water would seep through his jacket. “Nice and cool out here.”

“I’m a little cold,” Lauren said, turning to face Elijah, leaving a small space between them. Elijah instinctively pressed himself back against the wall. Just as he felt its comforting pressure against his back and legs, Lauren leaned in and kissed him. Elijah closed his eyes.

Lips. Soft lips. Breath. Is my breath okay? Hair. Early call. Feet. Lines to learn. Dom. Surfing. God the water was great today. Wonder if we can go again tomorrow. The water was cold, but good cold, not bad cold. What had Dom called it? Refreshing. No. Exhilarating. No. Bracing. Yeah, that was it.

When he opened his eyes, he was surprised to see Lauren frowning at him.

“What?” he asked.

She sighed. “You know what? Why don’t you call me when you’re ready to let me be one of the things you have running around inside there.” She pressed her forefinger firmly to his forehead, tipping his head back until it touched the wall. Then she turned and walked back into the club.

Elijah closed his eyes again. Maybe he should go after her. Maybe not. That had sounded like a pretty final send-off. He shuffled across the sidewalk and sat down on the curb. Kicked to the curb. Literally. He knew he should feel upset, but he didn’t. He wasn’t sure how he felt. He wasn’t sure he felt anything.

“Hey.” Orlando had come out to join them. He stretched and yawned in the chilly air, then looked around. “Where’s Lauren?”

“She left.” Elijah did not look up.

“Do you mean she left or do you mean she, you know, left?”

“I mean she dumped me. She didn’t like the way my brain worked.”

Orlando sat down next to him on the curb. “You ever thought about having it removed?”

“My brain? Yeah, all the fucking time.”

They sat together in silence for a moment.

“Know what?” Orlando said.

“What?” Elijah answered dully.

“When I was a kid, I had completely fucked-up writing.”

This non-sequitor broke through Elijah’s self-absorption. He looked up. “Did you just say you had fucked-up writing?”

“Yeah. I did. When I was small. If a letter was supposed to go up and down, I would write it bottom-to-top instead of top-to-bottom. And if a letter had a straight line that went across, I would write it right-to-left instead of left-to-right.” He shook his head, smiling to himself at the memory. “Weird.”

Elijah remained silent, staring at the yellow haze cast by the streetlamp across the road. A mist of golden light motes drifted to the ground.

Undeterred by Elijah’s silence, Orlando continued. “Anyway, it practically drove my mum mad, you know. She was always so keen on us doing everything perfectly. She used to sit with me every day after school and try to get me to write properly. The minute she’d see my pencil heading in the wrong direction, she’d yell, ‘Noooo!’

“I was a nervous wreck. It was terrible. Every day, tears and recriminations. Drama. Come to think of it, it was probably one of the reasons I became an actor. The impact of all that drama at such a young age.”

Elijah thought about some of the home-schooling conflicts he had had with his own mom and smiled. “Moms get hung up on the strangest things.”

“Yeah, they do,” Orlando agreed. “So anyway, one day I came home from school and sat down at the kitchen table to do my homework. But something was wrong: Mum just stood at the sink and kept peeling potatoes. I was so used to her standing over my shoulder screaming, ‘Noooo!’ I thought maybe she hadn’t seen me there. So I said, ‘Mum, what are you doing? Why aren’t you over here helping me with my writing?’ And do you know what she said?”

Orlando paused for effect. Elijah, caught up in the story now, shifted so he could see Orlando’s face .

“She said, ’Landy’ – and just you shut up about the nickname, Monkey – ‘Landy,’ she said, ‘I’ve decided there’s nothing I can do. If you want to write left-to-right and upside-down and backwards, you go right ahead. I don’t care anymore. I can read your writing and that’s all that matters. Maybe that’s how you were meant to write; maybe you’re just wired that way.’”

Elijah looked expectantly at Orlando, but he appeared to have finished his story. Before Elijah could think what to say, Orlando leaned in and gave him a big, wet, sloppy kiss on the forehead.

“And she was right. There was nothing wrong with me. I was just wired that way. Okay? Gotta run, babe. They’re waiting for me inside.” Orlando loped off, leaving Elijah on the sidewalk. He absently rubbed the wetness of the kiss from his forehead as he watched Orlando disappear into the building.

***

Walking the streets of Wellington on a cold, damp night was more pleasant than Elijah would have expected. The glow of the streetlamps created welcoming circles of hazy light at regular intervals along the sidewalk. Elijah’s imagination told him it was warmer in those circles of light, though he knew this was not true. Dark, light, dark, light. Cold, warm, cold, warm, matching the rhythm of his footsteps. There was very little traffic, only the occasional whoosh of a car drawing a wet sound from the road. Then quiet again.

As he walked, Elijah let his mind wander freely over the events of the last few hours. He felt the ten thousand things running around inside his head, the ones Lauren had justly accused him of harboring, dwindle to mere hundreds, then dozens, then, finally, a manageable few.

At least Lauren had lasted awhile. During the Lauren weeks, it had been a relief not to have to be on the look-out for the next dating candidate. On the other hand, they had not been together long enough to get comfortable with one another the way Elijah expected they would have if they had been in a real long-term relationship. There was still all that exploring and learning about each other to be done.

And, Elijah had to admit to himself, he had not really wanted to be explored. Not by Lauren, anyway. Besides, a date every week or two as permitted by his shooting schedule was no way to get to know someone. They were probably doomed from the start, he thought with an internal shrug. His initial disappointment was quickly turning to resignation.

He was glad Orlando had not been there to see Lauren dump him. That would have hurt. It was nice, though, that he had been there to give him some support afterwards. If you could call that crazy story support.

Elijah smiled to himself at the image of young "Landy" slaving away at his homework. It was strange to think of Orlando struggling with anything; he seemed to be so good at everything he set his mind to. Orly’s mom was right, of course: forwards, backwards, what did it matter as long as you got the result you were looking for?

Elijah stopped suddenly, almost tripping over his own feet. For a split second, it felt as if everything else had stopped too: his heart, his lungs, his mind. Even the little specks of golden mist hung suspended in the air around him. Then Elijah laughed. He laughed so loud, it reverberated between the buildings lining the empty streets. Then he started to run. Dom’s apartment was not far.

***  
The familiar sound of the telephone ringing back in Manchester made Dom feel a bit better. His mum’s voice at the other end was more comforting still. She was the only person besides Billy to whom he had confided his feelings for Elijah, and it was always a relief to talk to her.

“Mum!”

“Hello, love.” Aureen answered warmly. “Don’t think I’m not delighted to hear from you, but why are you calling me on a Saturday night? Shouldn’t you be out and about?”

“Why would I be out and about when I can talk to you instead?” Dom answered coyly. “Besides, I did go out. I had a drink with Bills.”

“Seems to me you used to have a bit more fun on the week-ends. I miss those drunken phone calls at odd hours.”

“I am having fun. But it’s during the day mostly. You know surfing and hanging out.” Dom paused. “Tonight, it’s just. Well. Elijah usually comes by after his dates and I don’t want to miss him.”

Having said it aloud, Dom became aware of how pathetic he sounded.

Aureen sighed. “When I advised you to be patient with Elijah, I didn’t mean you should torture yourself, Dominic,” she said. “You should go on dates, too, or go out with your other friends. It’s no good you sitting home alone. You’re the kind of person who needs to be with other people.”

Now it was Dom’s turn to sigh. “But that’s just it; I don’t want to be with other people right now. I’m going to wait it out. Something’s bound to happen soon. He’s having another date with That Girl Lauren tonight.” To Dom, it was always That Girl Lauren.

“Oh, Dom. I honestly do not understand how Elijah could be interested in anyone else when he could be with you!” Aureen cried sympathetically.

Dom laughed. “Well, Mum, I appreciate your loyalty, but by that logic, every available man and woman in the world should be lined up outside my door.”

“As well they should be,” she answered, then she laughed. “The good ones anyway. So tell me, is it serious with That Girl Lauren?”

“I don’t know. I don’t think so. He doesn’t seem that happy when he talks about her.”

“How can you tell?”

“I can tell. No giggles, for one thing. And his eyes don’t do that shiny thing they do when he’s happy.”

A knock on the door and Dom felt his heart lurch. “I’ll bet that’s him now. Gotta go, Mum.”

***

Dom was surprised to find Elijah out of breath and agitated, bouncing from foot to foot as if he had been waiting an hour for Dom to open the door instead of only ten seconds. Before Dom could ask him what was wrong, Elijah hurried into the room, talking as he went.

“Dom. I need to ask you something. It has to be you and I have to do this. And don’t say you’ll do it because you’d do anything for me, because this isn’t just anything. You need to hear what I’m asking for first, because, well, it’s kind of strange. Okay?”

Dom took this in. “I would do anything for you, you know, but if you want me to wait for you to ask first before I say yes, go right ahead.”

“Okay. Good. Here’s what I want. I want to kiss you. Would that be okay? Would you let me do that?”

It took almost every ounce of self-control Dom had to keep from laughing out loud. With the small bit of self-control that remained after that, he refrained from grabbing Elijah and giving him the most thorough kissing of his life. Instead, he forced himself to appear to be considering Elijah’s question, then, with all the apparent hesitation he could muster, answered, “Yes. Yeah. I think that would be all right.”

Elijah stared at him for a moment, as if to make sure he was serious. Then he leaned in and pressed his lips to Dom’s. It was a simple beginner’s kiss, closed-mouth, brief, almost chaste.

As they kissed, a single liquid thought flowed through Elijah’s mind, invading every corner and washing all other thoughts away.

*Dom.*

Then Elijah felt the urgent rush of blood to his cock that usually accompanied any physical contact with Dom. With difficulty, he pulled away. He stepped back and collected himself.

“Okay. Good. That was good. That was what I thought,” he almost panted. He swallowed and took another gulp of air. “Now I have another question for you.”

“Yes?” After the kissing question, Dom was anxious to learn what else Elijah might have in mind.

Elijah took a deep breath. “Do you think we could, well. Go out? I mean go out on a date? You know, a date kind of thing? I know maybe it’s a bad idea, because we work together and all, and we’ve been such good friends and I hate to think I might mess that up and, oh, you know, a lot of other reasons…” He turned red and his voice trailed off. But his eyes remained focused on Dom. He stared at him expectantly, his mouth slightly open.

Dom had to struggle to keep himself from passing out with joy. His self-restraint completely drained by the kiss, he made no attempt at hesitation. “Yes. Yes. I think we could go on a date. Yes, absolutely.”

Elijah smiled at him, eyes shining. Then he giggled. Dom took Elijah’s hand, still slightly cold from his long walk in the night air, and squeezed it. “We’re going to have lots of fun, Lij,” he promised. “So much fun. But first, I need you to explain one thing: since when does the big kiss come before the date? Seems to me you’re going about this backwards.”

Elijah grinned, squeezing Dom’s hand in return. “Guess I’m just wired that way.”


End file.
